TODAY’S GAME
Campbell at Dayton, 1 p.m., 1290, 95.7
University of Dayton quarterback Will Bardo knows what to expect today at 1 p.m. when the Flyers face Campbell on Senior Day at Welcome Stadium.
After all, the fifth-year senior has been here before. Just last season, in fact, with his parents, even though he knew he would be coming back.
“But once the game started, I was in game mode,” he said. “It may be different this time, I don’t know.”
Bardo will take the field for the last time as the Flyer signal caller as the Flyers (8-3, 5-2 Pioneer Football League) look to close out a choppy second half of the season on a positive note.
“Our record is not what we want it to be,” Bardo said. “But we hope we have passed things on to the younger players on how to prepare, work hard and win.”
Dayton will have its hands full with Campbell (5-6, 4-3), which will look to use its huge lines to finish .500.
“They are a very physical team,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said of an opponent that averages 290 along the offensive line and 270 on the defensive side. “For them to come in and beat us would be big for them.”
Campbell likes to run the ball behind 220-pound tailback Keith Gross while the Flyers counter with 1,514-yard rusher Connor Kacsor and the arm of Bardo (1,751 yards, 13 touchdowns).
“I think it is going to come down to how we stand up with them,” Chamberlin said. “They are going to try and run the ball on us and their defense is so big, we are going to not let them have a clean shot on us.”
“We don’t have to do anything crazy,” Bardo said. “We just have to make plays when they present themselves.”
Ending his UD career is something Bardo hopes to put out of his mind once the ball is kicked off.
“It’s weird because some days it seems like it (is the last game of my career) and sometimes it feels like we got another week,” Bardo said. “We were sitting around the house on Monday talking about what we are going to do this time next week. I think it will begin to hit us before the game, but more so next week.”
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